


You and Me Could Write a Great Romance

by misura



Category: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
Genre: Community: smallfandomfest, F/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-16
Updated: 2013-04-16
Packaged: 2017-12-20 04:50:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/883140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>There are many thin lines between camaraderie and friendship and the sudden white-hot desire to throttle someone for being a babbling idiot, and Jane is wary of crossing those lines too quickly.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	You and Me Could Write a Great Romance

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: _Jane/Neil, agreeing to disagree_ (ovo_lexa)

The easiest way to put it: they get along because they don't.

It's about being opposites, about clashing nearly all the time and never compromising. Jane's got a hot temper but a long fuse; Neil is quick to anger, if you know what buttons to push, but he cools down pretty quickly, too. (Flowers usually do the trick - cheap, paper ones, because fertile soil is rare and valuable, and not to be wasted on trivialities these days.)

 

"I mean, no offense," Neil says, "but you're awfully pretty for a soldier, Jane."

Edwards looks mildly disapproving ( _indulgent_ , Jane thinks) and Ryan looks strongly neutral ( _trying not to grin_ , Jane thinks, which is polite, at least) and they both of them look at her like this is some kind of test.

On second thought, make that all three of them.

 _Cute_ , Jane thinks, relaxing slightly, and then _dumb_ , at herself, for not catching on sooner. She's the newcomer to this unit; pranks and practical jokes and stupid pissing contests are only to be expected, these first few weeks, and really, it should have been obvious that nobody could act the way Neil has been doing so far all the time.

These are the Deep Eyes, after all. Professionals.

"Yeah?" she says. "Well, I guess you're awfully cute." Beat. "For a girl."

Edwards grins, and Ryan rolls his eyes, and Jane feels those two reactions should have really been reversed.

"Thanks," Neil says, looking pleased. "Did you hear that, Captain? She likes me."

"We all like you, Neil," Edwards says, and it doesn't sound like a joke.

"Even if sometimes, we really wonder why." Ryan sighs. "What is it with you and women?"

"I'm just a real nice guy, that's all."

"You saying I'm not nice?"

"Too tall," Neil says. "Women like a guy they can tuck under their arm. Just ask Jane."

Jane counts to five slowly, and then resorts to her trusted conversational topic changer. "I like big guns."

"Welcome to the team," Edwards says. His handshake is warm and firm.

 

It's not love at first sight. (Neil says it was, of course, but in this, as in many things, Neil is wrong.)

On some days, Jane almost doesn't even believe it's love at all (in this, and in very, very few other things, she is wrong, but unlike Neil, she knows).

There are many thin lines between camaraderie and friendship and the sudden white-hot desire to throttle someone for being a babbling idiot, and Jane is wary of crossing those lines too quickly.

(Neil, needless to say, seems barely aware of them at all.)

 

"Biggest gun I could find," Neil says, beaming proudly.

"Idiot," Jane says. "We're scouts. I'm supposed to be running with that?"

"Right. You're a bit scrawny, aren't you? You should work out more, get some upper body strength."

Neil's been running right next to her close to a dozen times, out in the field. She's no longer quite so tempted to tell him to stay in the ship. When you're outside, you're outside. It's unsafe by definition, and as long as he's with the rest of them, at least they can keep an eye on him.

 

For two weeks, after he's saved her life, he becomes very nearly insufferable, or at least moreso than usual.

 

"You know, Jane," he tells her, on the first day of the third week, "I'm glad you're not dead. I really don't know what I'd have done if that Phantom had gotten you."

"Tripped over your own feet and broken your neck, most likely," Ryan says. Going outside is always dangerous; you either learn how to deal with it, or you find another line of work.

Jane isn't looking forward to dying, but she's not afraid of it, either. It will happen, eventually.

"Unless some Phantom got to you first."

And everybody's lost someone to the Phantoms, and some people still do, even if the Barriers keep most people safe, nowadays. It's different when it's someone else who does the dying, though.

 

She's the one to make the first move, naturally, as long as you don't count the puppy eyes and the ribbing and the comments on her skin, her eyes, her smile. Her weight, and what she looks like when she closes her eyes for a quick nap. (Her mistake, clearly, to assume Neil would stick to the cockpit.)

"Frigging heck, Jane. You nearly gave me a heart attack. Did you get lost on the way to your room or something?"

Clearly, this is the only logical explanation for finding a naked woman in his bed.

"Nope," Jane says. She considers getting up, but that might actually bring about that heart attack, and she doesn't really want to explain why she's naked to some medic - at least not when there's no real reason for her not to be having any clothes on.

"Oh." Acts and moments of insanity and puppy-like behavior aside, Neil isn't actually an idiot. "Well, gosh, Jane. I thought we might try dating. You know, dinner and a movie and all that. Holding hands."

Jane remembers Neil's hand, grabbing her arm and keeping her on her feet long enough to regain her balance, to keep running and eventually reach a relative sort of safety.

She also remembers their positions being reversed. Remembers Neil's face, pale and drawn, as Ryan inspects his leg ( _'just bruised, I think'_ ). Injuries are rare, in this war; you either live to fight another day, or the Phantoms get to you and you die. 

_'Hey, Jane. Can I hold your hand?'_

_'You'll just use any excuse, won't you?'_

"I thought we might sleep together," she says. Neil's taste in movies is almost as horrible as his idea of a tasty dinner.

"Uh," Neil says. "Sure. Let me get the spare bed. I'll have it set up in a few secs and then we can talk or something. Do you know how to play Truth or Dare?"


End file.
